Other FeaturesAnother standout feature is "The Sentence." With it, you select words to form a sentence that represents your mood so that Beats Music plays the appropriate audio. When I constructed "I'm at my computer & feel like dreaming about zombies to metal," Beats Music served up Black Sabbath, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Judas Priest, and other hard rock bands (an Arcade Fire song snuck into the bunch that didn't maintain the same vibe, though). It was the blood-pumping soundtrack I needed to power me through the second half of my day. It's gimmicky—I could have just as easily found a hard rock playlist—but it works well.

The "Highlights" section features curated playlists that are designed to give you a deeper dive into an artist or genre. For example, "Behind the Boards: Dr. Dre" highlights Andre Young's many classic tracks, while "Lorde's Influences" details some of the singer's, well, influences. They remind me of Slacker Radio's many themed stations, but without the bonus of DJs to add supplemental information and context.

These curated playlists come courtesy of Alternate Press, Pitchfork, Revolver, Rolling Stone, XXL Magazine, Hot 97, and other music notables (in fact, you can click on a curator's name to see all of the playlists that a curator's put together). If you want to learn a bit about an artist's catalog, those playlists are a fine place to start. If you want to know more about music history, you may want to download Slacker Radio.

In addition, "Find It" offers over 30 curated genres and dozens of curated playlists (such as "Waking Up" and "Starting a Riot"). On the topic of playlists, you can make your own at any time. Tapping the "+" icon lets you add a song to a playlist, or download it (as well as entire albums) to your library for offline playback. However, you will not find song lyrics or live radio, which are Slacker Radio's staples.

The Beat Goes On I had my initial reservations about Beats Music due to its interface, disrespect for album art, and lack of a free feature (especially when Rdio, Slacker, and Spotify all have no-cost entries to their services). However, the app grew on me—a lot.

Beats Music makes discovering intriguing albums and playlists extremely simple. Yet, there doesn't seem to be a focus on individual, new releases—it could use something like Slacker's News and Trending. Still, it's an exciting product and one that music fans should keep an eye on as it evolves over time.

PCMag may earn affiliate commissions from the shopping links included on this page. These commissions do not affect how we test, rate or review products. To find out more, read our complete terms of use.

For more than a decade, Jeffrey L. Wilson has penned gadget- and video game-related nerd-copy for a variety of publications, including 1UP, 2D-X, The Cask, Laptop, LifeStyler, Parenting, Sync, Wise Bread, and WWE. He now brings his knowledge and skillset to PCMag as Senior Analyst.
When he isn't staring at a monitor (or two) and churning out Web hosting, music, utilities, and video game copy, Jeffrey mentors, practices Jeet Kune Do, blogs, podcasts, and speaks at the occasional con. He also collects vinyl and greatly enjoys...
More »